The Upper Room Discourse - Atmospheric Conditions

John 13:1-17

Thirteen men have come together for a Passover meal. One will leave early on a mission of betrayal. The remaining twelve will later make their way to the garden of Gethsemane.

From there they will be scattered. One will be taken by force on a nightmare journey.

In less than twenty-four hours, the Savior will be dead – crucified. Well aware that this is His certain destiny, He wants to show His disciples that He loves them to the end.

John’s Gospel gives us the “inside story,” as Sinclair Ferguson notes, quoting a comment made by John Calvin in his commentary on the Gospel according to John:

The other three are more copious in their narrative of the life and death of Christ, but John dwells more largely on the doctrine by which the office of Christ, together with the power of his death and resurrection, is unfolded….

All of them had the same object in view, to point out Christ, the three former exhibit his body, if we may be permitted to use the expression, but John exhibits his soul. On this account, I am accustomed to say that this Gospel is a key to open the door for understanding the rest; for whoever shall understand the power of Christ, as it is here strikingly portrayed, will afterwards read with advantage what the others relate about the Redeemer who was manifested.

Ferguson summarizes this description aptly, as he writes: “The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) show us ‘His body’ – they tell the story from the outside, as it were. But the nearer John’s Gospel gets to its climax the more we learn about what was ‘going on inside’ our Lord.”

This is preeminently true in chapters 13 through 17. Here we are invited to listen in as “Jesus patiently instructs His closest friends as they sit around Him during a Passover meal. It would have lasted several hours – truly memorable hours with the Master!”

Gather with us as we study the Upper Room Discourses with Jesus, beginning this coming Lord’s Day. This week we will look at the atmospheric conditions in John 13.

In Christ,

Pastor Wayne